No answers in shooting death of bystander police call 'completely innocent'

Posted June 7, 2014, 6:09 p.m.

The family was returning from a sweet-sixteen celebration and the car was loud with chatter. As they pulled up to the curb in Exposition Park, gunfire erupted.

Behind their car, a gunman in an SUV was shooting at a man standing in the street. The family was caught in the middle.

When the gunfire stopped, the driver, Jacob Ayala, called out, asking if his six passengers were OK.

In the middle seat of the silver Honda Pilot, Nelva Hernandez, 45, sat motionless, her head cocked to one side. There was blood around her neck.

"No, Nelva, no," her sister, Blanca Ventura, cried.

The gunman's bullets had missed Blanca's 2-year-old grandson by inches, striking Hernandez in the head. She was taken to a hospital and for the next week, family members, including her two sons, Kevin 14, and Elvin, 18, stayed by her bedside. On April 5, one week after the shooting, Hernandez died.

In the two months since, Los Angeles Police Sgt. Paul Shearholdt has gone door to door in the neighborhood looking for witnesses. He can't find any video surveillance in the area that shows the shooting. So far, he's gotten only a few people to talk.

As the days go on, Shearholdt is running out of leads. The case has frustrated the investigator, who says the mother of two just happened to be in the line of fire that day.

"Simply put," he said, "she was completely innocent."

Hernandez was one of thirteen siblings, and every weekend they found ways to get together. She loved to be behind the scenes, coordinating.

"She was always the one cooking," said her niece, Sulma Ruiz, 27.

Hernandez had already begun planning her younger son's birthday party — in December. And she always had food ready for the boys when they got home from school.

When her sister was diagnosed with stomach cancer in February, Hernandez came each day to drop off kale, bananas and other organic vegetables and free-range meats. The sisters would spend hours on the phone.

Now, Ventura says, "there's a big emptiness."

Jose Antonio Hernandez, 50, said he misses their nightly walks. They'd been together for 20 years. Now there is no one to arrange the roses from the bushes he planted so his wife could have fresh flowers in their Cerritos home.

Shearholdt, the detective, is still hoping for a breakthrough. He believes that the gunman might be a gang member and that someone in the neighborhood knows who did it. Even an anonymous call would help.

"It's one thing to kill a rival.…" he said. "It's another when they hit someone that's unintended." A $50,000 reward offer is pending with the City Council.

"When your investigation is just completely wide open like this one is right now, just getting some sense of direction would be nice."

Hernandez's family has a new ritual. Each night, they exchange text messages to mark the start of a prayer. In Fresno, Dallas and Los Angeles, they all pray for the detectives to succeed and for the killer to be found.

Post a comment

Remember, all posts are approved by a Times staffer. Profanity and personal attacks will not be approved.

If you enter anything in this field your comment will be treated as spam:

Name:

Required

Email:

Required

Comment:

Email addresses are not republished or used for marketing purposes.

Nine reader comments

“

— Lu Johnson ; thanks for saying the same thing I have been saying the past seven years. If people want change, then they have to do it at the ballot box. For decades, they have elected the same set of do nothing politicians. And they wonder why nothing changes.

— syscom3June 11, 2014 at 5:25 p.m.“

This story angers me, and breaks my heart at the same time. Knowing how important someone's mother is, and this family is so close really just makes me so sad. I'm so very sorry for this man, and his children losing their wife, and mom to such senseless BULL$!%¥. I hate gangs, and I hate what they are doing to our communities, and our country. These people have no sense of pride for their fellow citizens, and are too much of a coward to throw down like they did back in the day....when REAL gangs used to throw punches, and live to see another day. Now, life has no value to anyone. It's sad generation.

— CarolJune 11, 2014 at 1:34 p.m.“

@Lu good point, but unfortunately a lot of them are just too lazy to do anything, their use to it, change scares them more than death, the smart ones move out far and too expensive for people on welfare to afford. Crime and poverty go hand in hand be smart move out let those who don't care stay

— GhostJune 11, 2014 at 1:23 p.m.“

This will never end, until the PEOPLE in these neighborhoods stand up and decide to do things differently. So far, they haven't done this. What will it take for this kind of sweeping change? I'll tell you, VOTE DIFFERENTLY, and if you don't 'get into all that political stuff', then DO. Peace, freedom and opportunity given in this country come at a cost. That cost is time and involvement. Picketing in the streets does nothing. VOTE for intelligent candidates (THis involves taking time to vett candidates during primaries... nobody really does this much anymore), candidates who you've listened to and put on the spot with questions.. or have your PRESS start doing it's job and make questioning and hard questioning the rule, like it USED TO BE before we started wanting ENTERTAINMENT in our news instead.

My point is, this is YOUR fault that this person is dead. YOU, and YOU and everyone else in your district who have put up with this horrible gang thing for decades now. You have a great country, with a fantastic Constitution with a myriad of tools included... and you ARE NOT USING IT, and then you wonder why everything is flying to SH.!T all the time around you. The impetus is on you and your neighbors and your community. Get smart, VOTE properly and this all goes away. Or don't, and watch more innocent lives lost, and watch your liberal representatives wail and moan and perform in front of the camera, but yet do nothing to change it, because YOU are not DEMANDING BETTER.

John, in what way did your experience change your 'thoughts about guns'? Did you realize for the first time that guns can be deadly? That a firearm in the hands of the wrong person can have fatal consequences? That criminal gangs wielding (probably) illegal firearms is the greatest threat to life in the inner city? Or did you, instead, somehow come around to the view that all guns should be eradicated and that the 2nd ammendment is problematic? I am curious to know in what way being caught in a crossfire (I assume it was a gang-related crossfire) changed your views?

— NorwalqueroJune 9, 2014 at 8:04 a.m.“

I've witnessed many shootings dating back to my Middle school High school days and not once have my views about guns changed even after being robbed at gun point once when I 17 years old, because handguns are not the problem it's the operator the individual wielding the weapon, I don't blame vehicles for the times I've almost been killed when idiot drivers run red lights. Like a vehicle, guns are a tool in the wrong hands can and will cause death. These gangs in the neighborhood are the reason unintended individuals die, these cowards use guns because their easy to use and these gang members are too LAZY to use any other weapons.

— GhostJune 8, 2014 at 9:33 p.m.“

I'm sorry for your loss. I was caught in crossfire in 2007 and it hit the car I was working on at the time, nearly hitting me as I fled for my life. My life was never really the same after that and I knew that my thoughts about guns changed after that day as well as the callous disregard some humans have for each other. May Neva rest in peace. Very sorry.